Tamil Nadu Medical Council suspends two doctors for issuing fake life certificates

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Medical Council has placed assistant professor of Government Vellore College and Hospital Dr Shanthini under suspension for two years for falsely issuing a life certificate to a deceased man and helping her family members grab his property. She has been asked to surrender her certificates and barred from practising medicine for two years.
“We have issued the order after a disciplinary inquiry against the doctor earlier this week,” said council president Dr K Senthil.
In a petition on November 8, 2011, K Sudha of Chennai alleged that Dr Shanthini issued a life certificate to her husband K Krishnakumar on January 10, 2018, although she knew that he had died more than three years ago on July 2, 2015. Using the life certificate, Dr Shanthini’s husband grabbed 1.30 acres of land in Tiruvallur district.
The council issued a show-cause notice to Dr Shanthini on December 2, 2021, seeking explanations. In her reply on August 28, Shanthini told the council that her father-in-law, V Swaminathan, had asked her to issue life certificates to three people, including Krishnakumar, for settling the sale deed. She claimed to be a “victim of the circumstances and she believed the words of her father–in–law and requested to consider her explanations.”
The disciplinary committee recommended her suspension as she had accepted charges and offered an unconditional apology for violation of medical ethics. “It was not a negligent mistake. It reflected a deliberate, unjustified and unethical approach to the noble profession and considering the above factors in totality,” the council said, suspending the doctor for two years.
In a complaint dated December 19, 2020, Bangalore-based R Vinod Kumar said that Hosur-based Dr K P Badri Prasad had conspired with one M Narasimhan to issue false life certificates for two women – Sabitha J and Shylaja Jayasurya – months after Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) had issued their death certificates. While Sabitha died on October 16, 2019, her mother Shylaja died on July 18, 2020. Yet, on September 7, 2020, Dr Badri Prasad issued them “life certificates for the purpose of registration of documents based on power of attorney”.
In his reply to the council’s show-cause notice, Dr Badri Prasad stated that he had been conned by one Narasimhan who brought two “similar looking” women to his clinic and that he could not see them clearly as they were seated six feet away due to the pandemic. Dr Prasad said that his face shield and the plastic curtain between them had made it difficult for him to see their faces clearly.
After his deposition before the disciplinary committee on December 6, 2021, the members recommended suspension of his registration following which he has been suspended for three months.